


Vestal Rebellion

by MsMiaMimi (Mc_Mimi)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: AU, Attempt at Humor, F/F, F/M, Flashbacks, Intersex, Love at first psionic sight, M/M, Other, Seb rules the world, Thor overhears Charles and Loki's first and only time, and Charles plans on taking it back, and its terrible for everyone.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-13
Updated: 2014-06-08
Packaged: 2018-01-08 13:59:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1133459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mc_Mimi/pseuds/MsMiaMimi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the last two decades the number of intersexed mutations had begun to rise, and now 1 in 100 mutant born children also had both sexes.  This prompted President Shaw to believe this was the next stage of evolution for mutant kind.</p><p>This is how Charles Xavier and Loki Laufeyson find themselves in New York...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Gold Leaf Bread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *edited 10-7-17

In two straight lines, wearing bright white tunics and thin linen pants, marched the Shaw Vestals.  The men and women working in the bakery threw open the doors and shooed away pedestrians and even potential customers.  One little boy still clutching onto his doughnut tugged his mother’s hand.

“Mama, can I be a Vestal when I grow up?”  He looked up and smiled hopefully.  The mother pats her son on the head.  “No honey.  You’re only human.  And you only have a penis.”

“Oh,” said the child, already resigned to accept his unfortunate fate.

In the two lines of Vestals, were 24 mutants from the Shaw Campus who were blessed to be both intersexed and possessing powerful omega level mutations.  Calling them Vestals was President Shaw’s idea.  (He is religiously devoted to the Mutant Cause.)  The Shaw Campus was home to some 150 mutants.  In the last two decades the number of intersexed mutations had begun to rise, and now 1 in 100 mutant born children also had both sexes.  This prompted Shaw to believe this was next stage of evolution for mutant kind.

This is how Charles Xavier and Loki Laufeyson find themselves in a New York bakery accepting the celebrated status heaped upon them and their peers.  Well, Loki accepts it.  Is all too glad to take advantage of his privilege.  He orders the most expensive items, (today a kind of cake with gold leaf decoration).  Charles, on the other hand, is more humble and takes almost a paternal role with the staff.  He accepts his usual order for a chocolate muffin and small coffee, smiling benevolently and offering his services to the bakery.

Today the owner asks Charles for advice.  “You see, my daughter is at that age where she’s a real handful.  I caught her sneaking out of the house the other night!  Can you believe it?  Is there any way you could…” He gestures at his temple and squints his face.

Loki huffs and rolls his eyes.  He hates when the ‘mortals’ ask for favors. 

Charles on the other takes the matter seriously.  “I think you should try open communication first.  It’s so easy for parent and child to claim they don’t understand each other if they never reach out in the first place.  Now’s the time to talk to each other, my friend.  Not to probe her mind.”

Loki yanks Charles by the arm until they are sitting at their regular table.  “And what would you know about parenting a teenage girl?  You’re barely 20 years old.”

The mutants that came with them all spread out to their usual spots around the bakery waiting for the two most powerful mutants from the Campus to finish up before they go run other errands. 

Charles starts to slowly unwrap his muffin.  “I’m 24, Loki.  Dearest, you know we are the same age.  We’ve been roommates for 20 years.”  (Still, he’s called the Professor.  He teaches and works for the science lab that studies their mutations on Campus.)

Loki frowns and eats only half of his $400 cake.  He leaves crumbs all over the table. (On the Campus he is officially a lead researcher and scientist specializing in botany, engineering, and magic.  He made that last one up.  He’s called the God of Mischief.)

A young busboy comes over to remove the plate with Loki’s remaining cake and accidentally brushes against Charles's hand.  Then the boy starts apologizing, “I’m sorry!  I’m so sorry!  I wasn’t being…. I didn’t mean to.  Sorry…”

He starts to back from the table when Loki grabs him roughly by the hand and pulls him forward.

“Let go of him, Loki.  He’s just new,” says Charles.

Loki sneers and pulls the boy harder whispering in his ear.  “You do know we are _not_ Vestal Virgins right?  Shaw was probably drunk when he had that sign mounted on the building.”

“Loki,” warns Charles but Loki continues to do what he wants.

“In fact my dear boy, we are anything but.  Mr. Xavier here is the biggest whore I’ve ever met.”  Loki grins when sees the indignant look on Charles’s face.  “Well, you are.” 

He finally releases the wide-eyed boy.  “You see, the vestals is a mutant breeding program.  The purity of the mutant race is implied.  No more human intermingling necessary.”  Loki laughs when Charles turns red from the tips of his ears to the base of his neck.

“I believe we’re done here,” Charles says dropping a Vestal Seal on the table.  It’s like a credit card and they don’t leave home without it.

Charles rises from his he seat and the others all do so as well, ready to follow him out.  Loki sighs and takes his time, even snatching what remains of Charles’s muffin.  When he gets outside and he takes his place beside Charles in the front of the lines.  He hands over the muffin.  “You forgot something.”

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Charles…”

“You did that on purpose.”

Loki flicks his fingers and a nearby car is set on fire.  “No, I did that purpose.”

Charles scurries to make the surrounding people stay calm and assume a burning car is no cause for alarm just call the fire department and stay well back.

Loki laughs taking note that they’re moving unimpeded back to the Campus.

“You and your mischief, Loki.  One of these days you’re going to hurt someone.”

Loki veers off to bump shoulders with his oldest friend, “Eat your muffin, Charles.”

  


	2. The Home Office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Shaw has been thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *edited 10-7-17

For almost forty years, President Shaw has controlled North America, Central America, the West Indies, and parts of South America.  (There are other places but that’s classified).  He wouldn’t say he was a greedy man.  But the only way to ensure the future of his race is to take power from the people who would otherwise suppress them.  

Mutants are after all still a minority in the world.  

He’s gone uncontested because the Americans finally woke up and realized he was right.  Mutants are clearly the superior species.  (Also he and General Odin razed the west coast in the 70’s and shortly after discovering Emma Frost in the 80’s he maybe nudged the minds of the humans to accept that mutants were the new rulers).  It is a difficult business though, keeping an entire continent in line.  Emma is powerful but Shaw knows he needs more.  And that is making the Head Professor at the Campus in New York look really good lately.

Shaw sits at his desk and looks around his Florida office, and smiles at all the little mementos he’s collected in his long life.  On the wall is a map of the territories he’s collected.  On his desk is a globe with all places he hasn’t yet acquired, still painted in enemy red.  He smiles and sends the thing spinning.  Pressing the intercom button to his secretary, he says, “Angel, be a dear and let Emma know it’s nearly time to board the plane for New York.”

“Yes, President Shaw.”

Shaw leans back in his chair and opens a manila folder.  The latest finding from labs at the Shaw Campus.  With the aid of Cerebro, Charles Xavier recently discovered microbial life on a moon of Jupiter.  For a telepath with no visible mutations, he is truly powerful.

Xavier has been paired with multiple partners, both powerful mutants in the military and high-level officials.  Unfortunately, like many of the other Vestals, it is hard to determine what in their DNA restricts reproduction.  There can only be one reason.  The candidates they’ve been throwing at Xavier, Laufeyson, and nearly half of the Campus residents, just aren’t good enough.  He’s come to this conclusion scientifically of course.  He's seen for himself an egg sample from an Omega-level polymorph that rejected a sperm from another mutant, almost like it was expending wastes from the cell wall.  It’s all truly remarkable.  He fascinated by the whole process.  Truly and really he is.  But he has deadlines to meet and he’s already expressed his expectations for this project in particular.  It’s time for Xavier to put up or shut as the saying goes.

Emma walks into the office with Janos and Angel.  Emma offers Shaw a fur-lined coat, “The planes ready to take off.  Let’s go see how your little freak project is doing.”

“Emma,” he warns.  Shaw turns to face her, take’s her pointy little chin in his hand, “That’s not how we talk about our own kind.  I would think you were jealous.”

Emma sighs but she looks appropriately chastised.  That will do for now.

Shaw nods his head and the others follow him out of the office.

Yes, he’s sure breeding a powerful mutant army was the right direction to take all those years ago.  He only just now realizing his error.  What he wants is the best of the best.  And where else would he get that but from himself?  Sebastian Shaw is the world’s most powerful mutant.  He never gave fatherhood much thought, (Emma must be on the pill or something), but now he can’t help but feel proud.  He’s going to be the father of the next generation of super-mutants.  The thought leaves him smiling all the way to the hanger.  Never mind Emma’s wary look.  She can’t read him now that he has the psi-blocking metal surgically grafted to his skull.  Neither can Xavier.


	3. On the Hill with Hank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just outside the door he finds Charles and Loki and grinning like mad conspirators. Charles has always been nice to Hank and even thinks his big feet are a ‘marvelous’ mutation. Loki on the other hand…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *edited 10-7-17

Hank is only a boy.  And his mutation is simple.  Giant feet.  Big brain.  There’s nothing remarkable about him.  But he did engineer the world’s fastest jet before he was fifteen.  It even beat one of Tony Stark’s designs in an exhibition seven years ago.  So he was conscripted by the geniuses of the Shaw Campus.  He doesn’t live there like the other scientists and engineers and he’s watched by the program’s security guards.  That’s okay really because Hank also has complete access to every lab and workshop.  One moment he’s working on his own designs, the next the Head Professor is using him as a lab assistant (he secretly loves those days), and the next after that he’s helping a team re-assemble a prototype sent over by _the_ Tony Stark.  And because of their previous rivalry, Tony always, always makes it a puzzle to re-assemble his gear.

Today, there’s encrypted software and all the screws are going in the wrong way.

Hank rolls his eyes and switches his screwdriver, “Righty loosey, lefty tighty again.  I wish he would stop that.”  He opens a panel that supposed to contain the power source to the little engine.  He and the other workers all groan when they finally look inside.

“Yogurt?” 

One of the assistants, a mutant with extraordinary vision (and just now glowing eyes), takes a closer look.  “Actually I think that container is full of nanobots.”

Hank carefully takes it and opens the lid.  It appears to be blueberry.  “It looks like blueberry though,” he says intelligently.

The assistant, Mariana blinks a few time making her eyes glow, “There are definitely nanobots in there, sir.”

Hank roughly scrubs his face with one hand.  “Okay, you guys clean the bots out of here and call me back when it’s finished.”

Mariana eagerly takes the Yoplait jar.  “I love blueberry!”

Hank frowns, “That’s great.  I’ll bring you back some from the cafeteria.  Please don’t eat that.”

Mariana ignores him to get to work.

Hanks leaves the workshop and moves on to the offices for the heads of security.  Logan Howlett works with all the mutant operatives on Campus.  And teaches poetry and intermediate dance. Natasha Romanov is almost certainly human, though Hank can’t say she’s aged in the seven years he’s known her.  Natasha is part of Shaw’s private army of agents, and the official liaison between that organization and the Campus. Hank is pretty sure that means she’s a spy who steals tech from other countries and brings it back for them to backward engineer.  That would explain the ‘made in Hong Kong’ label on the suppression collars they were just working on.

When he arrives Logan is predictably smoking in a non-smoking building and Natasha is sitting at the desk dressed in a very flattering pencil skirt and low cut blouse.  She glowers at Hank when he’s caught staring and gets straight to business.

“This,” she says holding out a badge, “Is for you to wear at all times for the next three days.  Charles has requested you be there when Shaw arrives at the airport today and at the big dinner tonight.  Don’t take this off.”

He accepts the new badge and pins it to his lab coat.  “What happens if I take it off?”

Logan puts his cigar out on Natasha’s desk earning him a glare from the redhead.  He ignores it and goes over to check the badge himself, “Take it off bub, and you’ll be shot.  Or plasma beamed, fried with lightning, whatever it is Shaw’s bodyguards do to people they don’t recognize in the vicinity of President Shaw.  Ya got that, kid?”

Hank nods his head and swallows a thick lump in his throat.  “And Charles requested me personally?”

Natasha deadpans.  “Yes, you’re very special.”

Hank blushes anyway and that makes Logan laugh.  The older man slaps Hank on the back, “Don’t worry kid.  Just remember you had a hand in making Cerebro and that’s what Shaw’s here to celebrate.  Of course, Charles made sure you’d be there.”

Hank is surprised to find himself comforted by the Wolverine.  The last kind thing the man said to him was something about the coffee maker he made in the cafeteria.  That was three years ago.

Hank starts to leave when Natasha calls him back, “Oh and doctor… do me a favor and see if your friend Cassidy has the kindergarten ready to sing the anthem when Shaw arrives.”

Hank nods, “I’m sure he has that handled.  He loves teaching them music.”

Natasha shrugs, “He’s probably neck deep in macaroni and finger paint right now.  Just make sure the kids actually know the words this time.  I don’t want a repeat of Christmas.”

Hank recalls that went rather well.  Some of the parents who had relinquished their kids to the State came and saw the kids were happy and healthy.  The kids put on a little performance and sang holiday tunes and made up some lines.  It was cute. 

“I remember Christmas,” says Hank intelligently, “It was cute.”

Natasha sits back in her chair with a serious expression on her face.  “It was unprofessional.”

Hank is happy to get out of there and make his way to the kindergarten.  Outside the building where the youngest students are housed Hank can already hear them singing the new anthem, ‘God Save Shaw’.

Just outside the door he finds Charles and Loki and grinning like mad conspirators.  Charles has always been nice to Hank and even thinks his big feet are a ‘marvelous’ mutation.  Loki on the other hand…

“Well look who it is, Charles.  Your pet ape.”  Loki grins harder and snaps his fingers.  Hanks shoes disappear and for a moment he panics.  He has studied Loki’s ‘magic’ and knows that what actually just happened is Loki somehow has the ability to travel between dimensions and send other things back and forth through space and time.  It doesn’t comfort him at all to know his custom shoes are now floating in an ether somewhere.

Hank sighs and decides to just accept it.  “Natasha sent me to check on the kid’s progress.”

Charles beams at the mention of the kids.  “Fantastic.  Brilliant, they all have lovely voices, the little angels.  Sean is doing a marvelous job.

Hank nods in agreement, “But are they singing the right words?”

Charles shrugs, “The truth of the song is relatively objective, let’s all bask in the beauty of the melody.”

Loki laughs out loud.  “I don’t think Cassidy even knows the words.”

Hank finds himself frowning when the kids sing loudly, “ _With Macaroni and Potatoes on the hill…._ ”


	4. The Old Dorm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles reached out with his mind after a while and asked, “Are you going to be alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *edited 10-7-17

It is easy for people to assume the worst about Loki.  That’s why Charles is so protective of him.  When they first met twenty years ago, Loki cried.  He cried when his golden-haired mother left him in their auspicious little dorm room.  He cried when his father, General Odin, told him to stop crying and straighten up.  He cried when his brother hugged him and kissed him goodbye, promising to visit him as often as possible.  He cried when his family left him sitting on his too-large bed across from a very quiet Charles Xavier.

Charles reached out with his mind after a while and asked, “ _Are you going to be alright_?”

Loki looked shocked and finally stopped sobbing, leaving his bed and toddling over to Charles’s.

Charles offered up a weak smile.  “ _I’m Charles.  I’m very happy to meet you Loki_.”

Loki gasped, “You know my name?”

Charles smiled brighter, “ _I know everything about you.  I know you already miss your mother and brother.  I know you’re angry with your father and President Shaw.  I know you’re scared to be left alone here.”_

Charles leaned over took the hand his new roommate, “ _But you don’t have to be scared.  You are not alone.”_

Loki smiled for the first time since leaving his home and hugged Charles.  Charles was a little surprised by the show of affection but hugged Loki back.  Out loud he said, “I miss my sister.  I’ve been here for two days now and I can’t help but worry about her.  She’s only a baby.  I was responsible for her and now there’s no one to take care of her.”

Loki sat back and wiped away the beginning of tears from Charles's face.  “Don’t worry.  Won’t your mother and father look after?”

Charles nodded, “But I still miss her.  She was blue and tiny and covered in little scales.”  He projects an image of the baby his mother recently adopted hoping it too would be as powerful as her own son.

Loki grins in understanding, “I’m adopted too!  We’re all related now!” His form shimmers for a moment and suddenly a little blue boy is sitting there with red eyes and tiny horns.

Charles claps his hands, more excited.  “That’s marvelous!  Really fantastic!!  Maybe that’s why we’re roommates!  They know we’re brothers!”  The logic of an extremely intelligent four-year-old is infallible so he knows it must be true.

Loki stands up and pulls Charles along with him and they jump in the large fluffy bed.  “You’re my brother!”  They chant and scream and jump.

Loki finally slows down, pulling Charles down with him. He turns pale and green-eyed again.  “We are going to have so much fun, you and I.”

They flop onto the bed curled around each other, panting to catch their breath after jumping high enough to almost reach the ceiling (give or take 3 or 4 feet).  Charles smirks.  “I bet it was my father that did this.  He works here.  In the labs at the other building.  I get to see him twice a day for tests.  I bet you can come along too.”

Loki nods along, sleepily agreeing with his new friend. 

Charles tucks his head beside Loki’s and yawns.  “Tomorrow then.  We should check the whole area and find hiding places and things.  Maybe a pirate ship.”

Loki yawns.  “That’s a good idea Charles.  But I rather find a library.”

Charles points to a corner.  “I think we have the biggest rooms here.  Through that door is a study.  It already has a private library.  And a little workbench and lots of crayons.”

Loki closes his eyes.  “That's good.  I like the green ones.”

They both nod off and remain close friends, even twenty years later when they’ve graduated.  They still share housing, even though they don’t have to anymore.  After a brief affair the summer they were sixteen they vow to remain friends.  Because as lovers they nearly killed each other, and after testing found they were utterly incompatible for reproduction.  Still, Charles is very protective of Loki.  Sometimes Loki still cries.


	5. Put that on the List

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Normally he can’t see anyone with the helms on....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *edited 10-7-17

Charles adores children.  He’s one of the few who genuinely hopes Shaw’s breeding program will result in children.  He’s eager to start a family of his own.  There are about three weeks given between introductions to a new candidate.  Brian Xavier had to work for President Shaw and Odin knowing they demanded results, but when they took his son as well, (as Charles now know the first two years of his life were led in secret beneath his family home before the war god Odin paid a visit).  Well, Brian Xavier extended some SOP routines to ensure a healthy conception and pregnancy for the mutants in the programs.  Charles keeps the original, hand-printed list of standard operating procedures for the Campus taped onto his fridge.  He stares at it now as it reminds him every day that even with all the testing and sacrifices he’s made, Brian Xavier did care enough to try and protect him.

  * _Enrollment in the breeding program is for adults ages 16-30_



(The cut-off age ensures that at some point, even with repeated failures, the Vestals are freed to live a normal life with a partner of their choosing and free from testing and follow-ups from the Campus)

  * _All potential partners must be screened medically, psychologically, and genetically_.



(Charles enjoys this part.  As a lead science officer he gets to personally tell psychotic, entitled mutants with money to throw around that they are in fact not fit for reproduction.)

  * _If approved, potential partners will be matched after a sample of their own reproductive cells is dispersed to various inactive clones from omega samples._



(Shaw initially wanted a clone army but rigorous testing by Brian has proved that to be impossible because cloned omega-level mutant cells do not grow.  They simply switch off as if aware they are no longer in the host body.)

  * _After introductions, a meeting can be arranged between potential partner and Campus Resident, only with the full consent of the Resident._



(This last part Charles feel was written especially for him and Loki.  One day while playing in the lab, Brian looked over at them and started crying.  He took a sheet of notebook paper and started writing out the list.  Three years later he died in a fire back in his home in Westchester.  Charles was not permitted to leave for the funeral.)

So, while Charles knows his father wasn’t always a very good man, he’s aware that Brian Xavier did try.  He tried to protect his son with the few resources afforded a very human geneticist in a world ruled by a mad mutant dictator.

Charles swallows a lump in his throat and finally opens his fridge door.

“Loki, have you seen the cheesecake I left in the fridge?”

Loki mumbles from his bedroom (around a mouthful of fork), “No I haven’t seen anything like that.”

Charles sighs and continues to move through their apartment.  Still on Campus but given a great deal more privacy.  He heads back to his room and lays out his suit and tie.  All the Vestals will be wearing white because Shaw (as mentioned before) is a mad dictator.  Charles has never held anything but contempt for the man.  Especially since ten years ago when the man and his personal guard arrived at the school with their new telepathy blocking helmets.  He felt it was a direct attack on him personally.  Loki at the time laughed out loud about it.  He jeered at one of the guards, “You all look like dicks in rubbers!”

At the time Loki and Charles had a good laugh at the expense of the President.  Then Shaw personally took Loki away for two days and when Loki returned he was quiet.  Charles couldn’t discern what had happened from Shaw and Loki made him swear not mention the incident again.

Still, the things in the past shape the future.  So all of this is fresh on Charles’s mind as he showers and dons his suit.  He smiles at Loki when they leave their rooms at the same time and together they go to the armored car waiting to take them to the airport.

Charles thinks about everything he’s ever wanted in his life and in his mind he feels Loki brilliantly turning around thoughts.  They both volley what ifs and possible outcomes until the car finally stops at the airport.  They can hear a bandstand starting up as Airforce One prepares to land. 

Loki thinks to Charles, “ _We should do it.  We should kill him now.”_

Charles shakes his head, _“Killing is not going to bring us peace.  It’ll only leave a vacuum of power and more than likely the Frost Queen will take up his position.”_

Loki holds out a hand and an orb of ice appears then disappears.  “ _I’m far colder than she is.”_

Charles leans over to kiss Loki on the forehead.  “I know that intimately enough, my dear.  Yet we must be patient. For our families sake.”  He directs Loki’s attention to where a garish Hummer is parked before them. Out of if it comes Thor, in full uniform, looking gold and red. Armed only with his hammer, a device that hones his mutant gift for wielding lightning and creating storms.  Unlike the lower ranked soldiers in his father’s army, Thor’s helmet is adorned with wings and actually looks quite regal on the Thunder God.

Loki sneers at the sight of his brother.  _“I’m adopted.”_

Charles is tempted to laugh out loud but his attention falls to just behind Thor.

Normally he can’t see anyone with the helms on.  Well, he can see them, but without his psionic sight, everyone wearing the things look dull and two dimensional.  As if they weren’t even real.  But before the plane can land, Charles gets his first glimpse of Erik Lehnsherr.  He’s never seen the Master of Magnetism bare-headed before.  The sight is striking on multiple levels.  For starters, the man has red hair!  Or auburn… or something reddish, whatever.  It is definitely not what Charles was expecting.  Also, he’s…. well he’s handsome.  Charles is god smacked with the realization that Erik Lehnsherr is a terribly attractive _auburn_ haired man.  Then his mind lights up as Erik demonstrates his power, a minute change in the way his brain looks but it is one of the most beautiful things Charles has ever seen.  And all the man did was close the car doors!

Loki notices the far-off look in his friend’s eyes and snaps his fingers for attention (not the kind of fire setting attention though).  “Charles?  Earth to Charles!  What’s gotten into you?  Are you in a trance?”

Charles can see in Loki’s head that he is staring with his mouth open and eyes hooded.  He’s pressed all the way up against the car’s window and squishing his nose.  This is it tad embarrassing but he can’t be bothered to care.

“Loki, my dearest.  Look at that.”

Loki does as directed and looks over to his brother and Lehnsherr.  “What?  A pair of cape-wearing idiots waiting for the plane to land.

Charles takes Loki by the hair and pushes his friend until he too is smashed against the glass.

“LOOK!  Really look!  Isn’t he radiant!?”

Loki frowns and talks out the side of his mouth, “What arrrr u tallllking about,” he garbles.

Charles finally releases him and sits back just as an aide comes to open their doors.  Loki gets out but looks in on Charles, still worried.  “Charles, are you having some kind of psionic breakdown?  Should I call a medic or something?”

Charles melts into his seat and smiles goofily at his friend.  _“I think I just fell maddeningly in love with the enemy.”_

Loki assumes he means Thor.  Loki responds as only Loki can in this kind of situation.

He sets his brother’s hair fire.


	6. The Compromise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erik doesn't give a damn. (One can't say that enough)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *10-7-16

Erik Lehnsherr has known Thor for 16 years.  In that time he has seen the man’s hair catch on fire at least a dozen times.  When the God of Thunder suddenly combusts, Erik can’t be moved to give a damn. 

He simply takes a large step away from Thor while the (former) blonde puts out what remains of his flowing tresses.

Predictably the cackle of Odin’s second son is heard nearby.

Still.  Erik doesn’t give a damn.

In fact, in his mind’s ridiculously organized memory, Erik makes a note.

**_Official Memo: Thor’s hair is on fire for the 13 th time._ **

“LOKI!!!”  Thor roars and turns on his brother.  But then a small child steps between the two giants.  No, that’s just Professor Xavier.  Erik rolls his eyes.  His seen this diminutive academic try to break up fights between the enormous sons of Odin before.  You would think as a high ranking military official Erik would at least try to intercede before someone gets hurt.  But again.

Erik doesn’t give a damn.

“Loki, darling,” coos the Professor in his posh British accent.  Erik likes to hear him talk.  The boy is like an extra from Masterpiece Theatre.  “You didn’t have to set fire to Thor.  I wasn’t talking about him!”

Thor gives his head one last frantic pat and raises his hammer as if to strike Loki.  Airforce One chooses then to stop circling and finally taxis down the runway.  Thor’s hair doesn’t look so bad this time, but he removes his helmet and hastily tries to repair his long golden mane.  Erik smirks at that and is just about to put his helmet back on when he hears a tiny voice from his side.  It seems the Professor has snuck up on him and is staring wide-eyed at Erik.

Erik tries not to give a damn.

But this close, the Professor’s hypnotic blue eyes are… well rather hypnotic.  Erik feels an odd sort of peace wash over his mind.  Then remembers there’s a reason he never forgets his helmet around a telepath.  He wasn’t expecting Xavier to even be here.

He starts to put his helmet back on but he suddenly hears the Professor’s voice in his head.

“ _Please don’t.  I… swear I’m not… I’m not trying to take advantage.  It’s just… I have never seen a mind like yours before.  You are stunning.”_

The smaller man is standing there with a ridiculous grin on his too-open, too-honest face.  Erik scowls at him because that’s just a reckless thing to do in the face of strangers.  Somewhere in the background he can hear grunts and snarling and assumes that Loki and Thor are still quarreling.  But in front of him right now, he can’t help but focus on the red mouth and the blue eyes and the floppy hair.

The Professor is still grinning.  Erik really, really tries not to give a damn and shoves on the helmet.  The look on the younger man’s face could only be described as ‘kicked puppy’.  Not that Erik has a habit of kicking puppies.  He finds himself apologizing anyway.  “It’s nothing personal, Professor.”

The Professor makes a face and shuffles from foot to foot.  He finally directs that intense stare of his elsewhere and Erik is relieved.  Or sad.  Whatever. “My name is Charles,” says the Professor.

Erik knows the man’s name.  Erik is a commanding officer in Odin’s army.  Charles Xavier is listed as a potential threat.  He knows this man’s blood type, his family history, and about the metallic pin in his knee.  Okay, he just cheated with the last one a bit.

“I know your name, Charles.”

The younger man blushes and Erik finds he can’t hear the band trumpeting away as Shaw descends from the Plane.  He’s supposed to be in line with Thor and rest of the official procession.  Instead, he is off to the side by his vehicle and talking to a tiny, adorable telepath.

 ** _Official memo: Erik Lehnsherr may be compromised_**.

Erik isn’t happy with this turn of events and communicates it clearly.  “I have to go now, Charles.”

Charles smiles brightly hearing his name for the second time.

Erik finds himself almost smiling back.  Then he remembers his objective because this has clearly turned into some kind of mission.  He has to get away from this man before he says or does something that either result in crying (people do that a lot around him), or he finds himself having an awkward flirt in front of Thor and President Shaw. 

Flirting is not an option.


	7. You had a bad day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki seems to be stuck face down on the hood of a car, pinned down with Thor’s hammer on his back...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *edited 10-7-17

President Shaw looks happy coming down the steps from the plane.  Though there’s a wide smile on his face his mind is keenly focused on the people around him.  For example, Emma is nearby draping his coat on his shoulders, making him picture perfect.  Janos is ahead of them scowling and being silent and looking really dapper in his suit.  That’s good.  Angel is still on the plane, she took a nap and he didn’t want to wake her.  That’s okay.  But the two neat lines of soldiers from Odin’s armed forces and his own Shield agents are missing some people. 

He can see Thor hurrying to get back in line but he’s already disrupted things.  That’s so disappointing.

Loki seems to be stuck face down on the hood of a car, pinned down with Thor’s hammer on his back.

And Erik.  Erik is talking to Charles Xavier.

Shaw isn’t very keen on this turn of events.  In fact, he would say it makes him unhappy.  He has to smile and wave for the cameras.  He nods at the procession and with a look conveys all his worries to Emma.  She walks with him a few steps and whispers, “Don’t worry.  No one will notice anything out of order.  I’ll have all this cleaned up before we leave.”

He kisses her on the cheek and the crowd cheers. “Thank you, my dear.  What would I do without you?”

Emma smiles and walks away while he heads for the stage and podium to deliver the first of several speeches he has to make.  His mind isn’t on his words though, because Erik is still talking to Charles.  Which means Charles isn’t listening to a word he’s saying.  It’s almost like they’re flirting with each other.

Shaw laughs at a joke Janos wrote for the speech and everyone laughs with him. 

No, they can’t be flirting, he thinks.  He’s just seeing things.  He made a decision before he got here.  He’s going to make super-powered mutant babies with that bookish faun before the year is out.  He’s already made up his mind about that.

Shaw remembers to let a tear fall down his cheek.  A public show of solidarity for the lost the nation recently suffered.  A team of cave exploring human scientist suddenly lost in an underground cave in.  Fourteen humans dead.  One secret underground base still running.

Shaw finishes his speech and steps down from the podium.  He makes his rounds, shaking hands and taking pictures.  Smiling and posing with a soldier who’s brought his little girl with him.  That’s good.  Thor eventually makes it over.  His hair is a little charred.  Shaw finds himself oddly curious about how Emma will cover up the appearance of the army’s poster boy.

“I see your brother made it out today.  It’s always a delight to see you two reunited.”

Thor offers his hand for a handshake, “It is good to see you, sir.  Did you have a nice flight?”

“Don’t be so banal, Thor.  Let’s get your brother off of that car now, hm.”

Thor actually hesitates.  “Do I have to sir?”

“Don’t make me call your father, son.”

Thor groans a little but he does as he’s told. 

Now back to the matter of the new bride.  “Ah shucks, did I think really just think that out loud.”  He smiles knowing the professor can’t read him anyway.

He cuts through the crowd, still shaking hands and trying to silently convey that he has business to attend.  Janos cuts through even faster and in the interest in keeping time he lets the man lead him back to the Presidential car. 

Knowing Lehnsherr this was probably a one-off.  He was probably over there doing his job and interrogating Charles or something.  Erik is terribly untrusting when it comes to telepaths.  So this was just an odd day.  He’s alright with that.  He’s even amused now. 

Emma slips into the car beside him.

“Everything is taken care of.”

“Good.”  He gives her congratulatory pat on the knee.  “Do me a favor, kitten.  Keep a tight leash on Loki while we’re here.  Burning his brother in private is one thing, but not in front of the newspapers.”

She frowns or attempts to frown.  There’s tiny wrinkle in the center of her forehead.  “I can’t.”

Shaw doesn’t believe he’s ever heard that from her before.  “What?”

“I can’t do anything to Loki.  He’s under very strong shielding from Xavier.  I can’t… I can’t actually break it.”  She looks really disappointed in herself.  That’s good, it saves him the trouble of having to express how disappointed he is. 

“This is news to me.  I thought you were keeping track of the two of them.”

Emma raises her hands to head and rubs her temples, in an outward sign of concentration.  “I thought so too.  But now that we’re so close, I think it was all a projection.  A false mind, false incidents, masks, fake conversations.  That’s on top of the shielding.  Loki’s own thoughts and memories aren’t in reach.  Not to me, anyway.”  She sighs and slumps back in her seat.  The effort has clearly drained her of some energy.  This is turning into a really stressful day.

Then the damn phone rings.

He answers because only one person would be calling him now.

“Odin, I hope you’re not calling for the whereabouts of your birds again.  You really should cage those beasts and stop letting them fly about.”

Odin laughs on the line, “I just saw something interesting with my good eye.”

Shaw rolls his eyes.  “What exactly are you spying on now, you old coot.”

“There’s another report here about that Magneto fellow.  It seems he and his little brotherhood of mutants have attacked a research lab in Moscow.  Six months ago.”

Shaw takes a deep breath.  He’s tired of hearing this argument.  “I assume you want to know where Erik was when this happened.”

Odin snarls on the phone, “Gnnnnaaaahhhh!”

Shaw waits patiently for the War God to calm down.  “Are you finished?”

“The point here, Shaw, is I only know of one metal-kinetic mutant.  One.  And you put him in my army.  You put him in my ranks.  He’s second in command to my only son, god damn it!  And now I find that he is a terrorist, a conspirator-“

“Hold that thought, pop.”  Shaw puts his old general on hold.

Emma raises her fingers again and summons Azazel.  The red man appears in the front seat, brushing sand off his pant legs.  “You rang?”

Shaw puts Odin back on the line, “Odin?  Would you indulge me if I could provide a witness?”

Odin goes silent on the line except for his heavy, angry breathing.

Shaw gestures to Azazel then remembers the drunken teleporter was just in Maui and probably has no idea what is going on.  “Azazel, report to us on where Erik Lehnsherr disappeared to on his sanctioned leave six months ago.  Start from the beginning.”

“Da.  I took him myself back to his house.  First, we stopped off at a flower shop.  Then the cemetery where Magda is buried.  Then we went to the school to pick up the kids.  That was fun.  I told the principal the children are going to miss school for a week and she sat there bug-eyed,” the red demon breaks out in laughter.

“Speed things along, Azazel.  Did Erik Lehnsherr ever leave his home in California?  Did he make any trips to Moscow?”

Azazel laughs harder, “Желаю! No, we just do kiddy things with the kids for eight days.  Then say bye-bye to papa to with big globs of tears and snot and we finally get out of there and back to barracks in Peru.  I was relieved.  The little boy was always to run up to pull my tail.  I can’t even stab him for it.  He’s too quick.”

Emma smirks, “No wonder kids love you so much.”

Odin seems still unsatisfied he even goes as far to question Azazel’s allegiance.  But Shaw puts that thought down.  “Azazel is even more trustworthy than Emma.”  He looks to his blonde and sees that she clearly agrees with him.  “He wouldn’t be working with this ‘Magneto’ on the side and helping Lehnsherr keep up a second life.   You’re entirely too paranoid, Odin.”

Odin hangs up without another word and Shaw relaxes.  Then he tenses up again.  “Why isn’t Erik in this car?” 

Emma shrugs, “I saw him leave with Thor and Loki.”

And Xavier, thinks Shaw. 

Emma raises a brow, “What now?  He’s probably giving them all a lecture about respecting decorum or something.  He might even hurt their feelings.  Or leave them bleeding or something. We'll find out about it at the dinner tonight.”

Still, this is an unpleasant thing.  Shaw is just not having a good day.


	8. Pillow Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *edited 10-7-17

Something like eight years ago, the summer of the year Loki was sixteen, Thor gave his brother a surprise visit.  He thought it would be nice to catch up with his little brother.  They had hardly seen each other since Odin sent both boys down very different paths.  Not even a whole hour after he had said goodbye to his brother, had Thor been sent to a barracks for training.  Later, when he finally raised in rank enough to say things like, “I’m going on leave to see my brother.  I’m staying at the Shaw Campus for a week!”  He actually got away with it. 

And he totally regretted it.  Once on the campus, he was witness to the most disgusting display of puppy love he had ever seen.  And if Loki and Charles weren’t awkwardly pawing each other, they were arguing about sex-related semantics.  Since they were sixteen now and preparing for their first ‘dates’ with genetics partners they were given a private apartment on the Campus.  Since Thor had decided to surprise his brother he was given Loki’s room.  Loki wasn’t occupying it at that moment.  Which is how Thor had the displeasure of being in the next room the night the two tried to finally consummate their relationship.

Even with a pillow on his head he still heard most of the follow-up conversation. 

                “Where the hell are your balls?!”

                “What the hell is that?!”

Ah, so they hadn’t seen each other naked before.  And didn’t know all the intersex kids were special in different ways, inside _and_ out.

                “God Loki, your hands are cold!”                                         

                “Charles, you imbecile, this is lube, not toothpaste!”

                “Stop turning that music on, it’s not helping!”

                “Don’t just put your finger in there, Charles!”

                “Stop breathing so hard, you sound like a racehorse!”

                “Because I’m taller and that is just how it works!”

                “I don’t care what my mouth _looks_ like, Loki!”

                “Stop quoting the internet!  Wikipedia is not a viable source here!”

                “For fuck’s sake Loki, pick a bloody hole!”

At that point, Thor had elected to turn the TV on and hoped the droning of an old Nova special would send him off.  But he was wrong because then the moaning started.  Thor gave up and decided to go wait in the bathroom until whatever was going on was over.  He gave it a moment then decided he wanted a book to read.  Going back to the bedroom he noticed all the moaning and shouting had finally come to an end...

Then Loki came barging into the room, slammed the door and jumped into the bed.

Thor pulled his own hair and groaned, “What now?”

Loki sniffled and turned his back to his brother.  Thor decided to sit at the desk instead of returning to the bed.  “Well.  Are you going tell me?  Whatever you two were up, you were doing it wrong.  And you stink of sex by the way.”

Loki weakly threw a pillow at him laid back down, face hidden in the mattress.  He muffly responded, “Charles is an ass.  A short, bossy, tiny, little ass.”

Thor rolled his eyes.  “That was your first time.  Everyone is bad at it the first time.  Well not me, but you know.  God of fertility.  Whatever.”

Loki throws the other pillow.  “You gave yourself that nickname!”

Thor smiles, “Actually I really, really earned it.”

Loki makes a face continues to try and suffocate himself with the mattress.  Thor takes pity on his brother and goes over to pat the younger man on the back.  “It’s alright, Loki.  You two will be fine, you’ll see.  Whatever happened to make you run out of there won’t even matter in the long run.”

Loki sits up and bends his knees until he can hide his face in the two knobby points.  Thor tries to reassure him and rubs his brother’s shoulder.  Loki sniffles some more before responding, “He said something.  I came too quickly and he said something…”

Thor frowns and thinks about reaching out to his hammer to throw it at the Xavier boy through the wall.  “If he insulted you…”

“No.” Loki looks up.  “He said.  He said he was hoping to get pregnant.”

That was.  Thor didn’t know what the hell that was.  He sighed, “Well you are living here, I suppose he would be glad to get out of here if you two conceived and got married.  That’s how it works right?”

Loki shook his head.  “No.  We’re not allowed.  We’ve been hiding this thing between us all month.  We start screening genetic partners next week and we wanted to… we didn’t want to be… inexperienced with the first one.  But we’re not allowed.”  Loki hides his face again.

Thor knows he’s not very good at comforting his brother.  He was hoping to use the time of their visit to get to know the boy again.  They were already ten years apart in age.  By the time Loki was adopted, Thor didn’t know what to do with a little bawling blue baby.  Thor wished at that moment to know what to say to make everything better but all he could think of was maybe he should smash something of Xavier’s to make Loki smile.  Or maybe set something on fire.  Loki always liked setting fires.

Before he could make up his mind, Loki suddenly reached over and pulled Thor in for a hug.  He hadn’t showered yet but Thor thought he could ignore it.  He hugged his brother back and even laid down with him and let until the boy doze off with an angry little frown creasing his pale, baby face.

Thor hated coming there all the more when the next morning, Xavier came into the room with a splotchy red face.  He’d clearly been crying for some time.  He woke Loki and told him to sit up.

“I’ve been to my lab.  I had a few samples.  From last night.”

“Charles!” Loki screamed, but Thor didn’t understand why.

“Listen.  We’re not.  We’re not compatible.  You and I.  It was like...  It was like a war in a petri dish.  Like we’re two different species.  Nothing works.  I’m sorry.  This has all been a waste.”

They broke up that day and Charles disappeared to his lab.  Thor didn’t see him again until his next visit to the Campus a year later.  On that day, Loki was returning from one of his ‘dates’ and Charles was beaming from ear to ear.  Everything from the last year seemed swept under the rug.

Thor has been silently hoping for a way to rescue both of them ever since.


	9. Bird of Prey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The man was sitting there like a bird of prey waiting for one of them to be vulnerable enough to snatch up in his talons. It would probably be Charles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait but I am having hard time trying to figure out why I couldn't just copy and paste it from word anymore and that had just put me off updating anything for a while. 
> 
> I was still writing though... so... Okay.
> 
> *edited 10-7-17

Lehnsherr was sitting with his head tilted, eyes moving over the three people opposite him. It made Loki want to laugh. But his back was sore thanks to Thor’s hammer. All he could muster up was a brief, “...eheheheh.”

Charles sat between Loki and Thor but that’s as far his peacekeeping mission went today. Loki had finally realized that his friend was actually smitten about Lehnsherr. The man was sitting there like a bird of prey waiting for one of them to be vulnerable enough to snatch up in his talons. It would probably be Charles.

Loki braved another laugh, “…ehheh—ow.”

At his admission, Lehnsherr focused him.

Damn.

Loki took a deep breath and waited. Still, Lehnsherr didn’t say anything. This seemed to even disturb Thor. And Thor was technically Lehnsherr’s superior. The only one not waiting for the car to suddenly stop and find himself a victim of the metal bender's talents was Charles.

Thor appeared to just be putting two and two together. “Are you alright, Xavier?” He asked even putting a hand on Charles’s knee to wake the freckled fool from his stupor.

Charles nodded slightly but in his mind sent out only to Loki, _“I never noticed how that stupid helmet was hiding the color of his eyes. I can’t see them now, but I remember. They’re blue. Or green. Or gray. Maybe he can change his eye color…”_

Loki rolled his own eyes and shoved his next thought as hard as could, _“Stop that. Or I’ll get a helmet.”_

Charles finally seemed to wake up and looked straight at his friend saying aloud with a dopey smile on his face, “It would ruin your hair.”

“WHAT!” Shouted Thor, suddenly suspicious. Loki didn’t have to read minds that to know his brother was thinking about the safety of his own hair. That made Loki laugh again.

Still, Lehnsherr was silent. Like a circling eagle. Or a buzzard that just smelled carrion a thousand yards away. Actually, Loki’s not sure why he’s so stuck on birds.

Thor took off his helmet and tried to polish the soot away from the winged monstrosity.

That almost makes Loki laughs, but he sees that his brother’s ability to look fabulous at all times is just making his hair now appear dark and slicked back from his handsome face. Before they got into the car, he had upended a whole bottle of water over his own head. And didn’t the cameras love seeing that? Next time, Loki promises to just freeze his brother. He always forgets in his anger that Thor is fireproof.

Lehnsherr's eyes finally move on from him and out the window but he says, “We’re almost to the hotel. Thor you may have to miss the presentation in the lobby while you go clean yourself up.” He turns his laser eyes back on Loki. “Are you alright to stand with Shaw while he meets with others, Loki?”

Loki squints and tries to stretch his back. There’s a dull pain like he’s been sitting under a boulder for a hundred years. Or sleeping on the wrong side of the bed. “I’m fine, Mr. Lehnsherr.”

He smiles, maybe a little cruelly at the end, but Lehnsherr isn’t paying attention to him. Instead, he’s focusing on Charles, “And you. I think Shaw wants to take a few photos with you before they begin. I’ll escort you, Professor.”

Charles probably didn’t hear any of that. Loki doesn’t feel like he could he roll his eyes hard enough, so he doesn’t even bother with the act. Instead huffs, “Don’t get lost or anything. I would hate to explain it to poor Hank. He’s so looking forward to being there.”

 

At that Erik Lehnsherr narrows his already squinty expression, “I wasn’t aware Hank McCoy was going to be there.”

 

Charles doesn’t have a chance to say anything before Loki interjects, “Oh yes. Charles invited him. Got it through security and everything. Didn’t Natasha tell you?”

 

Erik’s top lip does some complicated flipping. Loki isn’t privy to whatever happened to between the supposedly human agent and Shaw’s personal attack dog. Whatever it was, he is sad that he wasn’t the instigator. No reason to not to poke at it.

“Erik,” says Thor, with some degree of authority. “Remember they’re all still civilian scientists. And the upcoming gala is to celebrate their efforts. Shaw wants to be seen with as many of them as possible to and take credit for throwing so much money at the Shaw Campus.”

Loki doesn’t know what to do with that. Thor sounds a little mutinous.

Charles heard that tone as well, “ _Loki? What was that? You don’t think your brother-“_

 _“No,”_ cuts in Loki. “ _I think Odin is up to something. Of course, Thor would be of the same mind. They’re probably planning a coup.”_

Charles smiles and pats Thor on the leg, “Thank you, Thor. That was refreshing. We poor old scientists rarely get any credit for the work we do. We’re hardly in harm’s way like yourself or Mr. Lehnsherr.”

Thor smiles but looks away to the window.

Lehnsherr turns that super focused, threat assessing stare of his on his commander.

Loki can barely help the glee bubbling up inside of him. He takes Charles by the hand and squeezes. They remain that way for the rest of the ride.

 


End file.
